I got into a bit of a bad habit of only making green smoothies. I love them so much. They are always so delicious and such a beautiful colour, but I sensed my boys were perhaps getting a bit fed up with all the green. So it was time for a change.

Tomorrow we celebrate Burns Night here in Scotland and in honour of the great poet I made a vegan haggis and red lentil nut loaf with whisky cream sauce.

Robert Burns (or Rabbie Burns as we refer to him) was a Scottish poet who lived in a wee village called Alloway, just outside Ayr in Scotland from 1759 to 1796. He created many of Scotland's great poems including Auld Lang Syne.

After his death a group of his friends got together on his birthday (25 January) each year to pay tribute to him and the evening grew in popularity and it's now celebrated across the world as well as in Scotland.

On a traditional Burns Night the guests are piped in and welcomed by the Chairman who sits at the head of the table. He reads a Scots poem called the Selkirk Grace and then the bagpipes are played once more to pipe the haggis in. The guests stand while it's brought in and the Chairman reads the Address to a Haggis which starts with "Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!". When the address is finished the haggis is cut into and served to the guests, usually with neeps (turnip) and tatties (potatoes).

Children in Scottish schools have spent the last couple of months learning about Robert Burns and his poems and will recite them tomorrow as well as enjoying the traditional meal minus the whisky of course.

Inspired by a meal I enjoyed at the Atholl Arms Hotel in Dunkeld (who serve fabulous veggie and vegan meals), I decided to make a nut loaf with haggis instead of serving it plain.

They serve it as a Lentil Loaf, but it's made with veggie haggis too. I added spinach and cashew nuts to mine and served it with neeps, tatties and a vegan whisky cream sauce.

To make it vegan I used red lentils as a binder instead of egg. I cooked them in vegetable stock with thyme for extra flavour and once they were soft, I whizzed them in my power blender until smooth. It took just over a minute.

The red lentils work better as a binder if they're blended, which might be worth remembering for future recipes.

You may baulk at the thought of cleaning out a blender after whizzing lentils, but it was no problem. I have a long thin rubber spatula from OXO that's perfect for getting in between the blades. It's for jars, but is great for using in a blender.

As you can see I got most of it out. The rest cleaned up a treat. Just some boiling water from the kettle, a few drops of washing up liquid and then a quick blend and it''s clean.

If you don't have a blender, you can mash with a potato masher until smooth, it will just take a bit longer.

For the cream sauce, I mixed crushed garlic and wholegrain mustard into Alpro Soya Single Cream. Then I added a splosh or whisky and seasoned with salt and pepper. A wee whisk and it's ready to serve.

January 24, 2016

A wonderful nut loaf made with veggie haggis, red lentils, spinach, cashew nuts and spices. It tastes wonderful with a vegan whisky cream sauce, but it's also good with a creamy mushroom sauce or a fresh tomato and basil sauce.

Ingredients

150g red lentils, rinsed well

300ml vegetable stock (2 stock cubes)

a few sprigs fresh thyme

454g veggie haggis

100g spinach (wilt in boiling kettle water, cover in cool water, then drain & squeeze out all the liquid), chopped

50g porridge oats

1 tbsp flax seeds (optional)

100g salted cashew nuts, roughly chopped

3 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

a good grinding of salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Gently cook the lentils in the vegetable stock with the thyme (run your fingers down either side of the sprigs to remove the leaves and add them to the stock) for about 20 minutes until soft.2. Heat the oven to 200c/180c fan/400f/gas mark 6.3. Remove the haggis from the wrapper and break up in a bowl with your fingers. Add the spinach, oats, chopped nuts, seeds and spices.4. Whizz up the red lentils until smooth and pour over the haggis mixture, then mix well and season with salt and pepper.5. Press the mixture into a lined (2 lb) loaf tin and bake for 45-50 minutes until golden and crisp on the outside.6. Leave to cool in the pan for a little while, before carefully removing and slicing. Serve with needs and tatties.7. Enjoy!notes: If you want to re-heat the loaf, bake slices instead of the whole remaining loaf, covered in tin foil. it will cook quicker and be hot all the way through.

Details

Total time: 95 mins Yield:Makes 1 nut loaf

I created this recipe for Travelodge who are celebrating Burns Night this year. You can follow the conversation with #travelodgeFoodies

I've been eager to beer batter again after my success with the beer battered haggis balls I made as a starter at Christmas. This time I decided to beer batter some garlic mushrooms. I adore mushrooms! What could be better?

The batter is glorious. Puffed up, golden and crunchy with the subtle flavour of spices. The mushrooms are juicy with the flavour of garlic and a good seasoning of black pepper brings out the earthy flavour.

This is such a fabulous batter. It's super easy to make and it never goes wrong. It puffs up while it's cooking and has a wonderful golden colour.. It's very light but it also has a great crunch.

You must try it. It's made in seconds. All you do is season your flour, pour in the beer and whisk. There. That's it. Ready to use.

Mushrooms are a great choice too as there's need to cook them. Just season them with black pepper and toss in some crushed garlic. As simple as that. If you aren't keen on garlic, then just leave it out. I've made these without garlic and the mushrooms are still succulent and tasty in this crisp batter.

January 21, 2016

Succulent garlic mushrooms in crispy, golden beer batter which is lightly spiced. A really quick starter your family will love.

Ingredients

4 portobello mushrooms (or other large flat mushrooms)

2-3 cloves garlic, crushed

125 g self-raising flour

2 tsp smoked paprika

a good grinding of salt and pepper

330ml beer

enough rapeseed or vegetable oil to cover the mushrooms

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a wok or other deep sided pan.2. Slice the mushrooms. 3. Toss the mushrooms in the garlic and season with salt and pepper.4. Add the flour to a bowl and season it with paprika, salt and pepper, then pour in the beer and whisk. You'll have a batter the pouring consistency of double cream.5. Test the oil is hot enough by dripping a little batter in. If it sizzles, puffs up a little and starts to turn golden, then it's ready.6. Dip the mushrooms in the batter and gently drop into the oil. Do a few slices at once. Once you can just see the underside turning golden, flip them over for a few more seconds, then lift them out and dry them on kitchen paper.7. Serve with salad and mayonnaise for a starter or with ketchup for dunking as a snack.

I like to bulk out dishes with extra vegetables as often as I can. It's pretty essential when you have a fussy child. I decided to add cauliflower to this creamy macaroni cheese and it was excellent. A good thick sauce with a really cheesey flavour.

Cooper likes cauliflower, but only if it's in a cheese sauce, so adding cauliflower seemed the perfect option. Why not add cauliflower florets to the macaroni cheese you may ask? Why make it into a smooth sauce?

Adding florets would change the texture and sometimes you have to choose your battles, especially when you're already spending time making one dairy cheese sauce and one vegan one. We do mostly eat a vegan diet but Cooper and I still occasionally eat cheese.

I don't make macaroni cheese very often as I'm aware of how calorific it is, but when I do make it we really enjoy it. The next day we like to eat our leftover macaroni cheese with spicy bean burgers and vegetables. You should try it, it's tasty!

If you're making my vegan version of the sauce, you'll find the alternative ingredients in brackets. I do hope you try this dish and enjoy it as much as we do.

1. Cook the macaroni in plenty of boiling water according to the packet instructions. Don't overcook, it should be al dente.2. Break your cauliflower into florets and steam or boil until tender. 3. Heat the milk with the onion and bay leaves. Drain into a jug to remove the onion and bay leaves. 4. Melt the butter in a small pan, then add the flour and whisk in. Gradually add the milk, whisking as you go. Add a little more milk each time it thickens up. 5. Season with salt, pepper, onion granules and garlic powder, then add the cheese or vegan alternatives and whisk in until melted. Taste to check the seasoning.6. Drain the cauliflower and whizz with the cheese sauce either in a blender or with a hand blender until you have a smooth sauce.7. Once the pasta is cooked to perfection, drain and mix with the sauce. 8. Serve and enjoy!

We're back to our normal routine here now. Christmas seems like so long ago. We lost a few things in the last week. I lost a key, Cooper had a haircut (so he lost hair) and I lost 4lbs in weight. Yes, I'm trying to cut down with the help of a fitbit. A good start!

Now to plan the week. Here are seven of the most amazing veggie and vegan recipes for us to trythis week and a few bonus recipes too. My featured photo this week is a gorgeous close-up of a twirl of spaghetti from Johanna over at Green Gourmet Giraffe.

It's time to use up those Christmas leftovers and many of us have jars of mincemeat leftover from baking Christmas mince pies, or in my case not getting round to making mince pies and buying them from Tesco.

I decided to use mine to make a rather sophisticated dessert. Pear and mincemeat strudel and I have to tell you that pear and mincemeat taste wonderful together.

Graham didn't have to miss out either as Jus-Rol do a dairy free filo and then it's just a case of brushing the layers with melted dairy free spread instead of butter.

I would serve this warm with ice cream, but it would be equally good with pouring cream, be that dairy or vegan. Just make sure it's a generous slice.

January 07, 2016

A rather special dessert. Flaky layers of pastry wrapped around juicy pears and spicy mincemeat.

Ingredients

1 packet (12 sheets) filo pastry

100g butter (or dairy free spread)

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 jar Christmas mincemeat

3 ripe pears, peeled and sliced

finely grated peel from 1 lemon

a dusting of icing sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200c/180c fan/400f/gas mark 6.2. Cover a large baking sheet in baking paper.3. Melt the butter (or dairy free spread).
4. Place one sheet of filo pastry on the baking try and brush with the melted butter or spread, then sprinkle over a little sugar.5. Add the next sheet and do the same. Repeat until you have layered up all the sheets.6. Spoon the mincemeat down the centre of the pastry, leaving a space at either end.7. Top the mincemeat with the sliced pear and sprinkle the lemon peel over it.8. Fold the ends over (about an inch) and then fold each side of the pastry over the mincemeat in the middle. Turn over so the seal is underneath and brush with a little butter or spread.9. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and crisp.10. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with cream or ice cream.11. Enjoy!

Meat Free Mondays is back after a Christmas and New Year break. We had such a wonderful Christmas. Cooper's grandparents flew over from Cyprus, it was so lovely to see them.We also spent time with my parents, cousins and friends. So many presents, lots of Lego building and Monopoly playing and so much food and drink all round.

The photo above is my starter on Boxing Day at a local Italian Restaurant. We ate out on Christmas Day and Boxing Day this year. Something we've never done before.

It's time to get back to normal and we start here with a new selection of veggie and vegan recipes for you to try this week.